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Remember that when you leave this Earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received, only what you have given, a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. -St. Francis of Assisi

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Sitting too Long.......

The last time I took the coach out was on July 7th. After that, I drove it twice just to move it to my neighbors driveway when I had my garage sale. It has sat for almost 2 months without moving. The house batteries are not charged. The inside lights do not work. I should have started it up a few times or driven to a local park - or something- just to keep the house batteries charged. I was so busy working on the house and dealing with other stuff that I didn't think about it.

I don't like using the generator. It worked at the dealer when I picked up the coach, they turned it on to show me what button to press inside the coach. In June, when I tried to use it in South Padre, it did not work, my son-in-law and his brother tried to get it started without any luck. I didn't go anywhere to have it looked at because I don't want to use it anyway. Solar panels can be expensive, but maybe I will get them anyway.

Today, I plugged the coach into an outlet in my garage for a few hours so I could turn on the lights.

I've been moving a lot of stuff out of the house. I've decided NOT to have another garage sale, it's too much work and I've already sold most of the "good" stuff. I'm taking books and magazines to the library and have donated some shoes to "Share Your Soles". The Animal Welfare Agency near my home will take donations of towels, sheets and blankets.

I received a postcard in the mail from an organization that will pick up "stuff" on Monday Sept. 26th, all I have to do is call them at least 48 hours before the pickup date. They ask you to place the items "curbside". The only problem with this is Monday is my trash pickup day - how do I make sure the donations don't get picked up by the trash collectors. They want you to attach part of the postcard to the donation. I can probably make some copies of the postcard - as I will have more than one box to put out.

Of course, some items are going into the coach. I've been sitting out in the coach, trying to figure out what I need to take and where is the best place to put everything. I still have empty cabinet and closet space, I don't want to take too much stuff with me, but I don't want to sell or donate something and then have to buy it again later on.

Since I have the space, I will take some of my sewing and craft supplies. I won't be taking my sewing machine, it's big and heavy and doesn't always work right. I enjoy doing "handwork" and can work on small projects.

Although I don't plan on spending a lot of time in cold weather, I am taking my favorite pair of boots and some warmer jackets. And some hats, scarfs and gloves. I am thinking that the space under the dinette seat will be a good place to keep these cold weather items.

Travel books are still an issue. I am ok with limiting other books to one or two and exchanging them along the way. But, the travel books are hard to part with, even though I can get a lot of the information online. I am not always online and I like to look at the maps and information on the pages, adding to the list of travel books are the campground directory and the Passport America and KOA directories.

I have an accordian type folder with tags for all of the states to hold my maps and a limited number of travel brochures. Luckily this fits nicely into a denim totebag that I have, this makes it easier to carry and keeps it from expanding too much. I will store this bag in the space between the passenger seat and the dinette seat.

It's challenging and exciting to be able to fit all of my possessions into such a small space.

What do I really need? What can I do without? What will I miss?
I did not miss anything when I was traveling in the coach for 5 weeks in June and July.

What will I gain? "Wide Open Spaces......."

I want to leave NOW. Of course, I'm not ready - still packing up stuff to donate and my daughter is coming in from Colorado on October 3rd to help me pack the things that will be shipped to her house.

So now I am hoping for someone to fall in love with my house, someone who likes to garden and someone who needs an extra large garage for puttering around in. Small house, big yard. The great outdoors.

7 comments:

My suggestion is to bring a winter coat along. You'd be surprised how cold it can get in the warmer areas of the country. Some years I use mine and some I don't, but when it's cold I'm glad I brought it along!

I enjoyed that process, too. I took some of my craft things, mainly because they are so expensive, and when you sell them - although they go fast - you don't get much $. I put some in an outside compartment, and the rest in a basket at the foot of my bunk.

I am sooo glad I have a generator. Every time I'm overnighting in a Walmart or Rest Area, I use it to watch TV or make coffee, etc. I may get solar later, but with the generator I really don't need solar right now. If I were going to boondock in the desert for long periods of time, I would want solar, though.

Why don't you have someone look at it and find out what's wrong. Maybe your batteries? Could it need oil? That's all I can think of, but look at your generator manual - mine has solved the issues Ive had, and I was able to fix the problem myself. Maybe it's tripped?

Teri, you can leave your couch plugged in to your house as long as you don't run the A/C. Last summer when I brought mine home after I fixed this place up I forgot to plug it in, my batteries were drained.I know keep it plugged in to the house all the time. I have solor panels on my MH it came that way but I have never used it. I also have a generaltor and have never used that either. I do run it every now an then just for the sake of running it.

If you leave your coach sit, the battery will drain from phantom draws if it's power is not cut off. Not only did I used to have to cut off the battery switch, but I also had to pull one of the cables off of mine. Then nothing could drain it. '-)

Mark Twain

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.